


How to House-Train Your Wolf

by magicsophicorn



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, Fluff and Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-03
Updated: 2015-10-03
Packaged: 2018-04-24 13:47:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4921927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magicsophicorn/pseuds/magicsophicorn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After dating for a few months Regina asks Ruby to move in with her and Henry. Happy ever after, right? Not quite… Turns out living together isn't as easy as it looks...</p>
            </blockquote>





	How to House-Train Your Wolf

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thegirl20](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegirl20/gifts).



If anyone had told Regina Mills a year ago that this was what her life would look like, she would have laughed in their face, possibly even tried to curse them, just for good measure. It just goes to show you never can tell what life will bring.

Regina smiled softly as she watched her son and lover play frisbee in the garden. Poor Henry didn't stand a chance. Not only was Ruby significantly taller than him, but she also had super-human speed and reflexes thanks to being a werewolf. It didn't seem to bother Henry though, in fact he seemed to enjoy throwing the frisbee as far as possible and watching Ruby sprint inhumanly fast to catch it at the last moment.

It was amazing to Regina just how quickly someone could become such an important part of her life that she could no longer imagine it without them.

Her train of thought was interrupted when Henry and Ruby flopped down onto the picnic blanket beside her, both as ungracefully as each other.

"Is there any food left Mom?" Henry asked, and Regina couldn't help but chuckle at the way Ruby's eyes lit up at the question as well.

"Yes Henry, have a look in the hamper."

Regina waited until he was happily munching on a sandwich before she asked her next question.

"Henry, do you think we should ask Ruby about that thing we spoke about last week?"

Henry swallowed his mouthful and smiled widely.

"Yeah, definitely! Go for it Mom!"

Regina turned to her girlfriend, who was looking at her with a puzzled expression.

"Ruby…"

Regina had rehearsed what she wanted to say over and over, but she suddenly found she couldn't remember any of it.

"You've become very important to me and Henry, and I know we haven't been together very long but…"

"We want you to come live with us! Please?" Henry interrupted, his impatience clearly having got the better of him.

Ruby's eyes went wide and Regina felt a stab of panic, maybe it was too much, too soon.

"Of course we'll understand if you're not ready…" Regina added hastily.

"Are you serious? Of course I want to live with you guys!"

Ruby gave a little squeal of excitement and surged forward to kiss Regina, knocking her off balance so that they ended up a tangled pile of limbs on the blanket.

"Oh gross! Mom! Ruby! We're going to have to make some strict rules about public displays of affection if we're going to make this work."

Ruby lifted her head from Regina's, one glance in each other's eyes had both women chuckling, clearly having both had the same thought.

"I make no promises Henry," Ruby said, reaching over to ruffle his hair as she sat up.

"Can you at least give me some kind of warning?" Henry begged.

Ruby pretended to consider it for a moment.

"Alright, deal."

\----------------------------

It was a week after Ruby had moved in that Regina first noticed something strange. Her usually pristine house was not quite so spotless anymore. She bent down and ran her fingers across the carpet. They came out covered in short grey animal hairs. Regina frowned.

"Henry," she called.

His head soon popped round the doorway.

"What's up Mom?"

"Henry you know the rabbit isn't allowed in the house," Regina said with a frown. She absolutely refused to call the animal by the utterly ridiculous name her son had given it.

"Well, yeah, of course I know that. Why?" Henry asked with a confused frown of his own.

"Because the floor is covered in fur, he's obviously been in here."

"Well I didn't bring him in, I'm not stupid. Maybe Ruby did? Did we tell her he isn't allowed in the house? I can't remember."

Regina's frown deepened. She didn't think Ruby would have let the rabbit in, but then it wasn't like Henry to let someone else take the fall for his mistakes. She nodded and Henry disappeared back off to his room.

Later that day when she saw Ruby the first thing she did was ask about the rabbit.

"Well hello to you too," Ruby said with a chuckle as she crossed the kitchen, kissing Regina softly as she passed, "and to answer your question, no of course I didn't bring the rabbit into the house. You know I try to stay as far away as possible from the poor thing so I don't give it a heart attack."

Regina's frown returned with a vengeance.

"I just don't understand it. I checked his hutch this morning, I can't see any means of escape. So how on earth did he get in here?"

"What makes you think he was in the house?" Ruby asked as she fished around in the fridge for something to eat. She was worse than Henry when it came to having a voracious appetite. The perks of being a werewolf, apparently.

"Because the floor and the couch are all covered with his fur."

Ruby turned from the fridge to face Regina. She swallowed whatever she'd found to eat in there.

"Oh, um, that's probably mine…"

Regina felt a flare of annoyance. They had talked about this and Ruby had agreed she wouldn't come into the house as a wolf for precisely this reason.

Ruby must've seen the annoyance on her face.

"Oh! No, I didn't come in when I wasn't supposed to," she added quickly, "it's just that for a few days on either side of the full moon I have a bit of a shedding problem…"

Regina blinked in surprise. She'd never noticed Ruby having any kind of fur as a human, and she'd had plenty of opportunity to discover something like that over the course of their relationship so far.

"I… Had no idea…" Regina mumbled, unsure of how to respond to that.

"I'm sorry, I'll vacuum in a minute," Ruby said, clearly embarrassed.

"Yes, that would be… Thank you. I'll start cooking dinner. Is lasagne alright?"

Ruby nodded as she hurried from the room. Regina shook her head. She wondered how many more surprises were in store now that she was living with a werewolf.

\----------------------------

Ruby smiled to herself as she danced around the Kitchen. She couldn't wait for Regina and Henry to get back from their parent-teacher conference. Regina had invited Ruby to go along with them, but what with Snow still being his teacher, that was a level of awkward that Ruby wasn't quite prepared to deal with just yet. Snow had mostly been supportive of their relationship, in a distant sort of a way, and perhaps it was all in her head, but Ruby found it incredibly awkward whenever she and Regina were particularly couple-y around Snow. But it still upset her more than she cared to admit. Snow had been her best friend for years, and she found it hard not being able to talk to her about her relationship with Regina.

While the others were at school Ruby had been cooking dinner for them. A full roast. It was her speciality. She couldn't wait for them to try it. Just 30 minutes longer and it would be ready.

This was the first time she had cooked for Regina and Henry since moving in. She'd been living here for just over a week now and was loving every second. Not only because of the obvious reasons, like the fact that the house was significantly nicer than Granny's, but also for the less obvious reasons, like not having to leave in the evening, and like getting to wake up next to Regina every single morning. It was amazing, and she hoped she never got used to it or took it for granted.

Just as she was making the gravy, Ruby heard the front door opening.

"In the kitchen guys!" Ruby called out, voice full of excitement.

She'd already laid the table even though she wasn't quite finished cooking the meal yet.

Henry and Regina entered the kitchen and Ruby turned to face them with a grin and a flourish.

"Surprise!"

They eyed the table and the meat still cooking in the oven. Henry looked delighted. Regina, on the other hand, looked horrified.

"What are you doing?" She demanded.

"Umm… Cooking dinner?"

Ruby was more than a little confused at Regina's anger.

"I can see that! Did you not think to ask first? I don't want you ruining any of my kitchenware!"

Ruby could hardly believe what she was hearing.

"I'm going to go upstairs," Henry mumbled, "call me when the food is ready and you're done yelling at each other for no reason."

Neither woman acknowledged him, they were too busy glaring at each other.

"Okay first of all Regina, I used to work in a diner… Or had you forgotten that? So I think I know my way around a kitchen enough to not wreck any of your stuff!"

Regina tried to say something but Ruby didn't let her, she was too worked up to stop her rant.

"And secondly, what the hell do you mean I need to ask permission? I thought you invited me here to live with you, not be a guest! I shouldn't have to ask permission to cook in what's supposed to be my own home now! I was just trying to do something nice for you both and you go and yell at me for it! What is wrong with you?"

Ruby was breathing heavily, still glaring at Regina, who was no longer glaring back, but instead looked shocked.

"I… I'm sorry Ruby," Regina said softly, her hand coming up to rest on her stomach in what Ruby recognised as a nervous gesture of hers.

"You're right, I overreacted. I… I'm not used to living with another adult, I'm sorry."

Ruby felt her anger draining away at Regina's words and expression, (although she still felt a little hurt that Regina would even think for a second that she would misuse any of her immaculate kitchenware. She might not have particularly enjoyed working at Granny's all of the time, but it sure did give her an appreciation for nice kitchen goods, if nothing else).

"Hey, it's okay," Ruby murmured, stepping forward and wrapping her arms around Regina and rubbing small circles on her back. "I understand. Just… Trust me. I'm not going to wreck your stuff. And maybe don't yell at me when I try to do something nice for you. Although perhaps I should have at least text or something to say I was cooking dinner, but I just kind of wanted it to be a surprise, since it was the first time."

The kitchen timer beeped before Regina could reply. Ruby stepped away from Regina, who instantly started smoothing down imaginary creases in her outfit.

"Why don't you go and fetch Henry and I'll dish up?" Ruby said.

Regina nodded and turned to leave the room. As she reached the doorway she paused.

"Thank you. For cooking for us I mean."

Ruby smiled.

"You're welcome."

\----------------------------

After that though it seemed like every single day they managed to say or do something that annoyed the other…

~~~

"RUBY LUCAS! GET DOWN HERE AT ONCE!"

She didn't need her wolf senses to hear the shout, despite it coming from the laundry room in the basement. Ruby winced. That did not sound good.

When she reached the bottom of the stairs she was confronted by a furious looking Regina who was holding Ruby's red cloak in one hand, and a baby-pink shirt that Ruby didn't recognise in the other. It certainly wasn't hers, and she couldn't exactly imagine Regina wearing that kind of colour.

"Uh, what's up Regina?"

"What's up?" Regina screeched, "I'll tell you what's up! Your cloak has ruined my favourite shirt, that's what! Not to mention the rest of my laundry!"

Ah. Oh dear. Yeah, that definitely was not good.

"I'm sorry Regina, it was an accident. I've washed it with other clothes before and never had any problems, I don't know why it's done that. Perhaps it's the different detergent?"

Regina threw the cloak at Ruby forcefully.

"Are you saying this was my fault?"

Ruby felt her jaw drop.

"What? No! Of course not…"

But Regina stormed past her and out of the basement before she could finish her sentence. She didn't even get the chance to offer to buy her a new shirt. Not that she could probably afford to replace that one. It was also probably a good thing she didn't get the chance to make a joke about baby-pink being Regina's colour…

~~~

Henry popped his head round the living room door.

"I'm going to walk over to Granny's," he said, "Ruby do you want to come?"

Regina snickered and Ruby frowned in confusion. What was funny about that?

"No, thanks Henry. I'll just see you later."

"No problem. Bye Ruby, bye Mom."

Ruby forgot about it for a while until it happened again an hour or so later.

"Ruby dear could you fetch me my slippers?"

Regina coughed as she finished her question, not quite managing to cover up a laugh.

Ruby suddenly understood what she was finding so funny, and to be honest it pissed her off. A lot.

"Are you making fun of me?" She asked, eyes narrowed.

Regina looked up from her book, a brief flash of guilt in her eyes.

"No… I…"

"How dare you? I'm a wolf, not a dog! I don't laugh at you whenever you look in a mirror, or when you make apple turnovers! Which, by the way, I don't even like!"

Regina gasped, a hand flying up to cover her mouth.

"You leave my turnovers out of this!"

If she weren't so angry, Ruby probably would've found it hilarious. Trust Regina to be most offended by someone insulting her baking.

"I'm a carnivore Regina! What did you expect?"

"Ruby! I…" Regina started, but Ruby wasn't in the mood. She stood suddenly.

"I need some air. I'm going out for a walk or something."

Ruby growled when Regina _still_ couldn't seem to help but snicker at that.

In the back of her mind Ruby knew she was probably overreacting a bit, but she was so annoyed she just needed to get out of there before she said something she would regret later.

\----------------------------

However the final straw came a few weeks later.

Regina woke with a start to the sound of loud crashes from downstairs. She leaped out of bed and ran to her bedroom door. As she opened it she saw Henry stood sleepily rubbing his eyes in his own doorway.

"Henry, stay up here. Do you understand me?"

He nodded, and Regina crept slowly downstairs. She wished Ruby was there with her. But it was a full moon, so she would be off somewhere in the forest by now.

The noises were coming from the living room.

Regina breathed deeply. Summoning a fireball to her palm, she stepped into the room.

At first she didn't see anyone. The room was in absolute chaos, nearly every single piece of furniture had been knocked over, their contents strewn across the floor.

Movement in the corner caught her eye and Regina gasped when she realised she was looking at a large black wolf. A very familiar large black wolf, who was going to be in _so_ much trouble in the morning.

She extinguished her fireball.

"Ruby! What is going on here?"

But Ruby showed no sign of acknowledging that Regina had even spoken, instead she growled low and deep, her gaze fixed somewhere on the other side of the room.

"Mom!" Henry yelled, and Regina jumped in surprise, she hadn't heard him come downstairs.

"Henry! I thought I told you to…"

"She's going to eat Baron Von Fluffypants!" Henry cried, pointing frantically, and interrupting her scolding of him. 

Regina snapped her head back round to face the room. She hadn't even noticed Henry's pet rabbit amongst the chaos at first, but now that he had pointed it out, she could just about see the poor thing cowering under a chair.

Ruby started advancing slowly towards the rabbit, and before she could stop him Henry had ran out towards it.

She watched in horrified slow motion as Henry skidded in between the trembling bunny and the approaching wolf, who was growling and snapping her jaws. Regina felt sick to her stomach. She'd never before thought for a second that Ruby would ever harm her or Henry, but it didn't seem like she was in any kind of control of herself right now.

However the second that the wolf laid eyes upon the boy she instantly stopped growling and advancing, instead whimpering and backing away as quickly as possible. The wolf looked over at Regina and as their eyes connected she knew that Ruby was back in control of herself once more.

Regina's heart was still beating wildly - fear, adrenaline and anger all rushing through her veins. 

"Get out," she hissed at the wolf.

"But Mom, she…"

"GET OUT! I never should have invited a _wolf_ to live with us!"

Regina turned and stormed out of the room. As she made her way back upstairs she just about heard Henry say " _don't worry Ruby, I knew you'd never have hurt me._ "

She tried to keep the tears from falling, but couldn't.

\----------------------------

Ruby did not give a crap what Granny, or Emma, or anyone said - she was not moping. She was just staying in her pyjamas, watching Netflix and eating ice cream because she wanted to, dammit. It had absolutely nothing to do with Regina kicking her out of the house two days ago. Not a damn thing.

There was a knock at her door and Ruby sighed. She was not in the mood for yet another attempt to get to her to wash and/or leave her room.

"Go away!" She yelled, and turned the volume up on the TV.

The person on the other side of the door ignored her, and the door swung open to reveal an unamused Snow White.

Ruby resolutely ignored her.

Snow walked over and sat on the bed next to Ruby without saying a word.

Eventually Ruby couldn't stand the silence anymore.

"Go ahead, get it over with. I know what you're here to say," she grumbled, violently shoving her spoon into the ice cream tub.

"And what's that?"

"Oh you know, that there's plenty more fish in the sea, that we weren't right for each other in the first place, that I need to get over her, etcetera etcetera…"

Snow looked down at her hands and fiddled with the ring on her finger.

"Actually that wasn't what I came here to say at all."

"What?" Ruby snapped her head round to look at Snow so fast she thought she might have given herself whiplash.

"I actually came to tell you that you're being an idiot, and that you need to get dressed and go and fix this, because what you and Regina have is worth fighting for."

Ruby felt her mouth opening and closing like a goldfish.

"But… I thought you didn't approve of our relationship?"

Snow looked up at her, a sad little smile on her face.

"Oh Ruby, of course I approve. You've just never given me the chance to show it. You're my best friend, and Regina has always been important to me, I just want you both to be happy… And you really do make each other happy."

Ruby felt tears brimming in her eyes. All this time she'd been slowly and subtly pushing her best friend away, and it was all for nothing. The worst part was that now it was too late.

"It doesn't matter anymore. It's over. She kicked me out. With good reason."

She couldn't keep the tears in any longer. Snow put her arm around Ruby and hugged her side.

"Oh Ruby, no, Henry told me what happened, she was just scared and angry in the moment, that can't be the end of your relationship."

"It wasn't just that though," Ruby managed to get out in between sniffs and sobs, "we weren't very good at living together… We just kept annoying each other."

"What kind of things happened?" Snow asked, rubbing soothing circles on Ruby's back.

"Well… she… she laughs at me whenever I go for a walk… and… she doesn't like it when I use any of her kitchen stuff… and I shed… and my cloak dyed her clothes pink… and.. and…"

Snow pulled away from her, looking back incredulously.

"Seriously? Are you honestly telling me that you're willing to throw away everything, all the good times, all the happiness, just because of a few little things like that?"

"Well… When you put it like that…" Ruby felt her insides twisting. They had all seemed like such big things at the time. "But it doesn't matter anyway, Regina she…"

"No, stop right there," Snow interrupted, "you know as well as I do that Regina's love life before you has been… less than ideal. Did it ever occur to you that she might be predisposed to think that every relationship she has is going to end badly? That perhaps she might feel like she's protecting herself by pushing you away?"

Ruby blinked. It… Kind of hadn't. But now that Snow had said it, it did make a lot of sense.

"So you need to go over there and fight for her, Ruby. You're both adults, I'm sure you can learn to compromise about things. You both just have to accept that living together is going to involve some changes for both of you."

Oh god, Snow was right. She had been a complete idiot. She just hoped it wasn't too late for her to fix things.

"You're right," Ruby said, standing abruptly, "I need to go and speak to her…"

Snow put her hand on Ruby's arm.

"Perhaps you should shower first? You don't smell great…"

Ruby chuckled and wiped away her tears.

"Right, yeah. Thank you Snow, I… Just, thank you."

Snow stood and hugged her.

"You are welcome. I really hope you two can work it out."

Ruby sighed.

"Me too."

\----------------------------

Ruby hurried down the street, heading towards Regina's house. She hadn't even bothered to dry her hair after showering, she was too impatient to go and try to save her relationship.

As she turned the corner Ruby froze. Striding towards her was none other than Regina. When she noticed Ruby, Regina froze as well. They stayed stood like that for a moment, several feet away from each other, just staring. Until Ruby burst out laughing. It was like a ridiculous romantic comedy. Hopefully though that meant that making up was not only possible, but almost certain.

Ruby hurried over to Regina.

"Regina! I was just coming to find you, please, could we talk?"

Regina smiled softly.

"Actually, I was just on my way to find you too, for exactly the same reason."

Ruby knew they should probably go inside somewhere private to talk, but she was just too anxious to try to mend things to wait.

"Regina I wanted to apologise, both for what happened that night, and for not trying to fix things before now. And I…"

"Ruby…"

"I wanted to apologise too for all the other stuff that happened after I moved in, I should have been more considerate of your house, and…"

"Ruby…"

"And I just miss you so much, and I was just hoping that there was some way we could work things out and be together again, even if it means I don't live with you anymore. I just…"

Ruby's words were cut off by Regina's lips covering her own. She sighed into the kiss. She really had missed this so very much, and it had only been two days.

Regina pulled back and cupped Ruby's face with her palms.

"Will you let me speak now?"

Ruby smiled sheepishly and nodded.

"I was coming to find you so that I could apologise, both for overreacting the other night and for not being more accommodating of you living with us. Snow came by earlier, and she helped me understand that I can't just expect everything to stay the same, and that this, us, we're going to take work, but it's worth it."

Ruby grinned and shook her head. "That sneaky little princess."

"Excuse me?"

"Snow might have been the one who managed to talk some sense into me as well…" Ruby admitted.

Regina chuckled.

"Well at least her meddling has finally helped me for a change, instead of harming me."

"So does this mean… Are we… Are we going to be alright?" Ruby asked tentatively.

Regina kissed her again. And again. And again.

"Yes, yes I think we will be."


End file.
